WHITEFISH, Mont. (AP) — The Big Mountain is hiring people from Peru and other countries to help staff the ski resort as the area’s low unemployment tightens the labor market for service industries with modest pay.

Hiring people from outside the United States is “sort of a test program for us,” Big Mountain spokesman Brian Schott said.

Flathead County’s unemployment rate is around 3 percent, meaning that just about anyone who wants work can find a job.

Hourly pay at McDonald’s has risen to double digits.

“When labor constrains, wages go up,” said Jim Sylvester, a University of Montana economist.

Big Mountain expects to hire about 60 people from Peru, Brazil and South Africa, for work this winter. Schott said they will share apartments through a housing program an employment agency established.

The hiring presents a “great opportunity to bring an international aspect to the mountain,” Schott said. “I think it’s kind of cool to bring a little more cultural depth to the work experience up here.”

Locals who want jobs at the resort still will find plenty of opportunity, he added.

At Whitefish Lake Lodge, manager Scott Ringer employs people from Asia, Brazil and Eastern Europe to help round out his work force.

Some of the area’s hotels and related businesses have united, hiring employment companies to obtain international workers for the height of the tourist seasons in northwestern Montana.

“You contract with the companies and they provide the service,” Ringer said. “Basically, they deliver employees to your doorstep.”

Sylvester said importing personnel is unlikely to have much impact on overall wages in the area.

“You’d have to bring in a lot of people to push down wages in the overall economy,” he said.

Seasonal businesses nationwide look beyond the United States for labor, said Larry Swanson, economist at Missoula’s Center for the Rocky Mountain West.

Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com/